March on Washington anniversary: Obama calls for economic fairness

President Barack Obama celebrated the progress made in the 50 years since the March on Washington but called for action on the “great unfinished business” of the civil rights movement: economic fairness for all Americans.

Half a century ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and hundreds of thousands of marchers “were not there in search of some abstract idea, they were there seeking jobs as well as justice. Not just the absence of oppression but the presence of economic opportunity,” Obama said in his speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, marking the anniversary of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech down to the hour, speaking just after 3 p.m.

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It’s on “the change through honest toil to advance that the goals of 50 years have fallen most short,” he said, for while “there have been examples of success within black America that would have been unimaginable a half century ago … inequality has steadily risen over the decades.”

Obama sought to shift the focus to the promise of 50 years ago that’s still unfulfilled and to lay the groundwork for fall fights over the budget and the implementation of his health care law. Instead of occurring in sleepy final week of August and driving the White House message until Congress returns in September, the speech came as Obama considers plans to intervene in Syria, where his administration has little doubt that Bashar Assad’s regime used chemical weapons against civilians a week ago.

For the moment, though, Obama turned his attention to domestic issues, tallying up the work that still needs to be done, while still honoring “the magnitude of this progress, [because] to suggest little has changed dishonors the courage and the sacrifice of those who paid the price to march in those years.”

While “we shouldn’t fool ourselves — the task will not be easy,” greater economic opportunity and social mobility are possible. “The promises of our nation are only kept when we work together,” Obama said, adding: “America, I know the road will be long, but we can get there.”

Echoing the message of his 2008 campaign — one that he says he still believes after 4½ years in the White House, he told the crowd that “change does not come from Washington but to Washington,” as people from all walks of life still march on Washington in hopes of changing the country.

That people are still marching shows that progress can be made, Obama suggested. “When we turn not from each other or on each other but towards one another and we find that we do not walk alone, that’s where courage comes from,” Obama said. “And with that courage we can stand together for good jobs and just wages. With that courage we can stand for the right to health care in the richest nation on Earth for every person. With that courage we can stand together for the right of every child from the corners to get an education that stirs the mind and captures the spirit and prepares them for the world that awaits them.”

Obama also spoke about the racial progress that the March on Washington brought about.

“Because they kept marching, America changed,” leading to the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and more. “Because they marched, city councils and state legislatures changed, Congress changed and, yes, eventually the White House changed,” Obama said, drawing big cheers. “Because they marched, America became more free and more fair. … America changed for you and for me.”

Obama and his aides tried to lower expectations ahead of the speech, with the president saying in an interview this week that “it won’t be as good as the speech 50 years ago.” King’s speech, he said, was one of the top five speeches in American history.

They’ve also made clear — throughout his presidency and again with the anniversary of King’s speech approaching — that while Obama stood on the shoulders of civil rights leaders to become the first African-American president, he has broader interests to serve. “I’m not the president of black America. I’m the president of the United States of America,” he said last year as he ran for reelection.

Since the start of his second term, events have coincided with political realities, and Obama has weighed in on the killing of Chicago teen Hadiya Pendleton, the Supreme Court ruling that gutted a key piece of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who was accused of killing black teen Trayvon Martin. In 2012, Obama said that Martin could’ve been his son; earlier this summer, he got even more personal, saying that “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.”